April has seen change at the top of Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand with Chief Executive Nick Leggett departing the role after almost four and a half years.

Leggett’s final day at Transporting New Zealand was Friday April 14. Transporting New Zealand Chair, Warwick Wilshier, says General Manager Dom Kalasih will become acting CEO until a new Chief Executive is selected.

Leggett is moving to a new CEO role with Infrastructure New Zealand, where he starts on April 24.

“I am grateful to have worked for an industry that literally moves New Zealand,” Leggett says of his time at Transporting NZ. 

“Road transport is made up of some terrific people who will drop everything to move freight for their customers. Most people don’t know the trials and tribulations of the work, because the industry does such a great job.” 

Leggett says that with COVID, economic pressures, and now extreme weather events, New Zealanders have seen how effective and necessary road transport is to keeping people alive and keeping our economy productive. 

“Road transport keeps moving even when the rest of us stop,” he says.

In the process of leaving the CEO role, Leggett has identified what he believes are key challenges for the industry moving forward.

“The industry struggles every day to project a coherent case and advocate effectively to Government because it continues to have three industry organisations, instead of just one. This makes no sense.

“Everywhere I go, people who work with the industry tell me that there should be one organisation. If you strongly believe that, I challenge you to do something about it. Please put your money where your mouth is. I’ve been proud to work for Transporting New Zealand because it’s the only organisation that actively supports a merger into one organisation.”

Leggett says he is also proud of his involvement with getting the “Road to success” traineeship and qualifications programme off the ground. And he says seeing the businesses and the men and women who work in the trucking industry increase their profile has been hugely satisfying.

“The people who do the work day and night to keep the trucks moving deserve to have their stories told in the media and to government.” 

But the industry must also face reality.

“When it comes to training, the only people who are going to invest to train and qualify drivers is you. Road to success gives all businesses, whether they are large or small, a nationally recognised training pathway with real qualifications.

“The collective mindset of the industry often is that training is someone else’s job and that people will just leave after employers invest in them. I think it was Bill Richardson who said that he’d rather train someone and see them leave, than not train them and have them stay.”

He says the industry must grow its own future workforce from a range of ages, different backgrounds, cultures, sexual orientations and beliefs.

Wilshier says Nick has brought a new dynamic to an industry that needs to embrace change.

“We need to empower our young people to lead and he has certainly created the platform for that to happen,” Wilshier says.

“The relationships that Nick has built and the profile that has been created is now in every New Zealander’s mind when they realise that through Covid, earthquakes and cyclones, their everyday necessities are delivered.” 

Nick joins the infrastructure sector’s membership body at a time when that industry has both shared and similar issues to those facing road transport.

“I’m excited to be continuing my advocacy for vital industries and asking critical questions about how we fund what we need to build, who will be available to build it and how we minimise the impact of emissions when doing so,” he says.